


Ever After

by Inspiration_Strikes_At_Midnight



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, I apologize for nothing, fairytale AU, vaguely inspired by Beauty and the Beast and Swan Lake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 11:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16617758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inspiration_Strikes_At_Midnight/pseuds/Inspiration_Strikes_At_Midnight
Summary: The end of a war is suppose to be a happily ever after. Instead, it's the start of yet another story. A tale of a prince and princess, two souls who would rather be dealing with literally anything else than what fate foisted upon them.





	Ever After

"Would you care for a story?"

The one-man audience ignored his kind offer, too busy writhing in pain to form a reply. Iago, never discouraged, took it as a sign to continue. He circled around his unwilling listener, accomplishment and pride swelling inside him.

 

He had waited so long, and he already knew -- This would be fun.

 

"Once upon a time, there was a greedy little prince," he began.  All those years spent mentally practicing finally paid off. Oh, how delicious these words tasted on his tongue!

It started with the noise, like wind on a bitter night. Light arrived next, crackling and swirling harshly through every corner of the room, setting everything aglow and nebulous all at once. Pages of books flew from their binders and joined in a dance around the prince, their rapid fluttering interweaving with the wails of anguish.

And then glass shattered. Iago flinched, instinctively pulling his cloak close, but recovered quickly. He had a story to perform, after all.

 

"This prince was nothing more than a brat consumed by a thirst for power. Being third-in-line for the throne wasn’t quite cutting it for him, you see. He wanted to be special! So he got his grubby little hands on a tome...”

Iago ran a finger over the book in his hand, tracing the intricate vine motif with idle fascination. “A strikingly special tome, one an ungrateful bastard such as you-- I mean, _the prince_ , could hardly appreciate to its full extent!”

 

Iago’s thrilling narrative was interrupted by him nearly falling to the ground. A hand gripped his leg with a strength that was vanishing by the second. “D-damn you,” the prince swore between clenched teeth.

With a shrivel of his nose, Iago slammed down his other foot and easily knocked the hand away. He smirked at the prince gasping in pain. Pathetic. “You’re not as strong as you think you are, boy.”

The prince tried to retort, but his mouth, as well as his own limbs, betrayed him. He fell to the floor. Strangled screams poured out as his body began to shake violently. Out from his hands flowed pure, unfiltered magic, which formed into snakelike tendrils that circled hungrily around his fallen form.

 

Iago smiled, utterly delighted, at the sight.

 

“Now, where was I?” he mused, taking a precautionary step away from the prince. “Oh, right! The spoiled prince received a treasure and the great power that went with it. But was it enough for him? Of course not.”

Iago paused his theatrics and scoffed. Lightly touching his forehead in a sign of disbelief, he crowed, “Imagine! Having a tome mentioned in legend, handed down through countless generations, bestowing on him incredible power comparable to that of the gods, and it’s still not enough for him.”

 

The prince, once again lacking any form of courtesy to utter a coherent reply through his screaming, forced Iago to yet again to fill in the blanks.

“I know, right? How downright detestable of you... I mean, him. Well, what does it matter? They’re one and the same.”

 

Iago laughed. People always made fun of his laugh, calling it harsh and ugly, like a dying bird. But with a sound-canceling spell surrounding the room, the only person who’d hear himself was sprawled on the ground and preoccupied with other matters, so Iago felt secure enough to allow himself a good guffaw.

Taking a minute to compose himself, Iago continued his story, “The prince could not be sated. He had so much already, but he he craved for _more._ So he began to dabble in spells long forbidden, spells known to warp the mind and body until every last drop of humanity was squeezed out from their caster,”

 

He casted a sidelong glance at the prince. Magic encased his body entirely, snapping and crackling venomously. His screams vanished underneath the blanket of raw magic.

“And… well, as the saying goes...” Iago smirked and stroked the tome in his hand. “Mess with the fire, get burned by the flames. And our pathetic prince? Well, let’s just say he got burned beyond recognition. His own greed twisted him into… well…”

The darkness shrouding the prince seeped into his body, a few stray sparks still flying fervently around him. The only sign that he came out of the ordeal alive crawled out as a low, anguished moan. Fate took pity on the poor prince, allowing  unconsciousness to slip over him.

 

And so the deed was done.

 

Iago allowed himself a satisfied chuckle. “Why, he's nothing but a monster now.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Head… throbbing. Throat… no, everything sore… Gods, it hurts._

  
  
Leo pried his eyes open, only to be met with darkness. A muffled groan reverberated from deep in his chest. The noise only made him ache more, and had he more wits about him he would've cursed his luck.  
  
Feeling slowly crept back into his bones, as well as some form of conscious and rational thinking. What felt like hours passed before he realized his blindness was not a newfound ailment, but a product of lying flat on his stomach with his face pressed close to the cold floor.

  
  
He sighed. Then groaned at the pain the sigh caused. _Then_ bit back another groan due to the pain his first groan brought.  
  
His aching everything told him to just accept his fate and welcome the ground as his new bed. It wouldn't be the first time he'd slept somewhere unconventional. Maybe sleeping hunched over a desk prepared him for an occasion such as this.

  
  
A buzzing entered his ears. Gods, what now? Was his current suffering not enough for them?  
  
“-lord!”  
  
Oh. So the buzzing noise was someone speaking. Interesting. Perhaps they didn’t know humming like an infernal insect is not how communication works.  
  
“Milord!”  
  
Or maybe they were aware on the basic functions of communication, and it was just Leo’s ears joining the rest of his body on strike.

  
  
Leo willed himself to melt into the floorboards. He did not have the strength or the will to even lift his head. “L-leave.” His mouth fumbled clumsily with the word, the pain searing through his throat staunchly refusing to let him sound anything close to respectably threatening.  
  
“This is no time to be in the arms of Morpheus! Resist his sweet embrace, I beg of you!”  
  
The voice, and its weird metaphor of choice, sounded familiar. Annoyingly familiar. A kind of familiar Leo really didn’t wish to deal with right now. “Leave. Let me die in peace.”  
  
“I’m afraid I’m with Odin on this one, Lord Leo. You can wallow later, if you so wish, but we have a bit of a crisis going on right now.”

 

Yet another kind of familiar Leo and his aching body didn't wish to deal with. There’s only so much Niles and Odin he could take, and thanks to his condition he’d already reached his limit. And yet, however much he wished against it, consciousness slowly infected his mind again. Directing all the strength he could muster to his arms, he rose from his regrettably not-final resting place. "F-fine, I'm up-"

  
Without a shred of hesitation, nausea snuck up and struck him. Fighting the urge to let his head fall to the floor again, he swayed in place, kneeling over the floor. His headache, which had been existing only slightly to this point, reared its ugly head and came crashing down on him with all the force of an armored horse.

  
  
Fantastic.

  
  
"W-what... the hell happened?" he asked, voice low and hoarse. He clasped his forehead in hopes of soothing the raging ache inside.  
  
"... I-Iago, m-milord,” Odin stuttered, his words broken and quiet. “He… Oh, gods…  He’s gone.”  
  
The name barely registered. "Iago?"  
  
That slimy bastard of an advisor. It was no secret how much Leo disliked him, but he was far from alone in his disdain. Leo could vaguely recall a gamble between the royal family retainers of who could come up with the most insults for Iago. Everyone, without a shred of hesitation, participated. A widely detested person, surely, but what the hell did he have to do with-  
  
With a blink, shards of memories returned. Small, incomplete, but still utterly and horribly humiliating.

 

“Th-that bastard!” Leo no longer cared about the pain, in his throat or anywhere else. Fire and anger flooded through his veins. A new kind of ache overtook his hands, one of the murderous variety. “I had to listen to him _monologue!”_

 

A second of silence passed before Niles sighed. “Priorities, Lord Leo. You should-”

 

Another fragment of memory flickered into place. _A hideous smirk dancing on lips as pale hands caressed the cover of..._

Unable to murder Iago right then and there, he resorted to slamming a fist down on the floor. It barely made a sound. Weak. He slammed again and again. Between each slam, he swore. “Damn it! He stole her right from my hands! Damn, damn, _damn_!”

 

“... her?”

 

“Do you really think it's wise to provoke him further, Niles?”

 

“Taken under advisement,” Niles retorted. His voice, unlike Odin, was calm and rational as he said, “Lord Leo, you need to keep calm. It’ll… it’ll help, I think.”

 

_Keep calm?_

 

Under normal circumstances, Leo considered rationality to be one of his better traits. But his rationality disappeared the moment Iago stepped in the room and smiled that detestable smile.

Keeping calm and collected was the least of his worries. Leo could slip back easily enough into his usual composure when Iago was rotting six feet under with only his brethren, the worms, for company.

 

Feeling rather sick of the ground and in general, he tried to stand again, and was marginally more successful than his last attempt. For a couple of seconds, at least. Nausea hit him again like an old friend who he owed money. Not pleasant. He was only able to make it to his knees. Kneeling was a step above groveling on the ground, at least.

“Which way?” he asked, his voice still sore and cracked, like it wasn't even himself speaking. He didn’t bother adding on to his sentence. They should know well enough who he planned to go after.

 

His retainers both spoke simultaneously in different replies, before pausing awkwardly. “We didn’t see, milord.”

 

_Of course._

 

“I really think-” Niles began.

 

Leo didn't care to listen. “Alert the guards. We're going after him.”

Another second of heavy silence. Had his retainers lost their wits and their tongues today? Normally they were quick to answer to his requests. One would think being assaulted and robbed would spring them into action, but instead they sought to have him _calm down_ , as if he were an infant having a tantrum.

 

“ _Well?”_ he asked. It came out rougher than he intended. His usual sharpness was replaced with something gruff, foreign. Something decidedly _not_ his voice.

 

Finally, Odin spoke, saying, “It seems your current state is a hindrance on your memory. We are not in Nohr, milord.”

 

“And I doubt the Hoshidans will appreciate us ordering their guardsmen around,” Niles added wryly. “Especially like this.”

 

Right, Hoshidans existed. He'd forgotten. Getting attacked and robbed tended to put a damper on one’s priorities.

 

His mind struggled to recall the details from the past few days. Damn, how his head throbbed… It hardly helped with the reminiscing. A flicker, a flash of the past. So faint. He remembered… Xander, and slight wrinkle of his broad nose as he expressed concern over Leo heading to Hoshido early.

 

_“Are you sure, Leo? If you waited a couple weeks, then we would all be able to go together. It'll be safer.”_

 

_“If we wait any longer, the Hoshidans could change their minds. We're already balancing ourselves at the edge of the cliff as it is. One wrong step, and we all go falling right back into a war.”_

 

_“That's exactly why I think it might be best for you to wait.”_

 

The throbbing increased in Leo’s head. His face burned, just as it did back then.

 

_“You don’t trust me.”_

 

_“That's… that’s not what I said.”_

 

_“This isn't my first time handling diplomatic matters, brother. I know what I'm doing.”_

 

_“Is it wrong of me to be worried for you?”_

 

_“Are you worried for me, or are you worried I might screw up and bring home a declaration of war instead of a peace treaty?”_

 

_“Under the circumstances, both are valid worries. These are delicate times, Leo. Our relationship with Hoshido is being held together by a string. One wrong move-”_

 

_“Do I seem that careless to you?”_

 

_“... No, I know you’re not. But occasionally things happen, things you're not prepared for.”_

 

_“Things where I need to hold your hand in case I get lost?”_

 

_“I don't appreciate your tone.”_

 

_“And I don't appreciate being treated like a child whose mother is sending alone into the marketplace for the first time.”_

 

_“Yes, because sarcasm is the quickest way to get me to recognize you as a capable and mature adult.”_

 

_“...”_

 

_“...”_

 

_“Leo… You know how important this is. The fate of our country is at risk here.”_

 

_“All the more reason for me to go.”_

 

_“... Gods help me… Why are all my siblings so stubborn? All right, you may go. Though I doubt my blessing means much. I have a feeling you would've gone anyway.”_

 

_“The blessing of a king means everything, brother. I promise, I won't fail you.”_

 

Leo made yet another promise – to never promise anything ever again.

 

_I’m sorry, Xander. I'll fix this. I swear._

 

“Then get me my…” Leo grasped around for a word, his head still spinning. What did one need when hunting down a bastard-masquerading-as-a-person gone rogue? Leo sure as hell didn't know. “Dammit, just get me _things_! I'll go after that idiot myself.”

 

Niles cleared his throat, then began quietly, “Lord Leo, I don't believe you're fully grasping the situation here.”

 

“I'm _taking charge_ of the situation.”

 

Odin, who had remained uncharacteristically sparse throughout the entire conversation, chimed in, “But you only have a glimpse of the problem! A man cannot craft a map of the heavens by one star alone.”

 

“Is this really the time for riddles, Odin? Normal words for once, if you would be so kind!” Leo said, both desperate and annoyed.

 

His retainers were acting odd, even more so than usual. He didn't always understand how their minds worked, but he never had any need to pry into their psyche. They did their job and they did it well, so he had always been lenient of their little quirks. Even secretly found them amusing at times. But right now, they were infuriatingly cryptic and Leo didn't care for it. At all.

Neither of his retainers answered, so Leo huffed. “Will no one explain to me what the hell is going on? Iago has his wretched hands on one of the most powerful tomes in existence and the two of you are acting like children riddled with guilt over a petty secret. Either tell me or I'm going after-”

 

“The mirror.”

 

Leo stopped mid-threat, confusion clouding his mind and mixing in with the anger and pain. He tried craning his neck to look at Odin, but saw nothing. “What?”

 

“Odin!” Niles hissed.

 

“There isn't enough time or words to ease him gently into this and you know it.”

 

Leo was lost. Completely and utterly lost. A boat in the middle of a sea with nothing but clouds in the night sky and no compass to call their own would stand a better chance at reaching something, whether it be land or a conclusion, than than Leo did.

“What the blazes are you two talking about? What mirror? Better question, what _about_ the mirror?”

 

Niles huffed. “You're started it, against my better judgement, so you're on your own.”

 

There was a strange fluttering sound. “There's… Gods, the words fail to reach my tongue. There's no way to describe it. Not yet,” Odin said, voice quiet. Something was wrong. He never ran out of words, and he certainly was never _quiet_. “Look at your reflection, milord.”

 

Leo, still bewildered, lifted his head up towards the mirror.

“It's broken,” he stated, tone flat and unamused. _Probably thanks to Iago._

 

“The, uh, shards then. On the floor?”

 

Sure enough, the shards were scattered across the room, along with many pages from his beloved books. Wrath reared its head again. “The damn wretch… Did he have to destroy _everything_?”

 

“Leo!” Odin snapped, though it was less like a snap and more like a loud and annoyed plea. He must've sensed how startling that was, for he corrected himself, saying, “I mean, Lord Leo! I'm all for hunting down Iago and making him rue the minute his father laid eyes on his mother. I'm _incredibly_ okay with it, believe me! But you- well, this… _please_ , just look.”

 

Leo blinked. His day just got increasingly weird as the hours waltzed by. “Al...right?”

 

He gingerly picked himself. It was a slow process, but he learned his lesson from before. It was either taking it slow and gentle or being instantaneously bowled over with nausea and pain. The smarter option was obvious.

Staggering over to a particularly large shard, a thought occurred to him. “It’s not my collar again, is it?”

He reached down and plucked the shard from the ground. He didn't think about it before – he would've grabbed it regardless – but he found himself thankful that he had gloves on. “Or is my armor crooked? Backwards? I swear if it's something as trivial as that I’ll-”

 

He looked into the shard of mirror and immediately dropped it, as if it seared through his glove and burned his hand. He didn't know if the shattering sound came from the shard or his mind.

  
“What the hell,” he choked out, barely above a whisper. _“What the hell?”_

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this hiding in my documents forever and I finally decided to say screw it  
> so  
> here it is
> 
> hi I love Sakura and Leo very very much
> 
> Honestly I've had this fic for so long I'm not even sure if I'll finish it, but feedback would greatly improve that chance. So here's to hoping!
> 
> Also I have no idea how Ao3 chapter system works so... I'll just figure that out later I guess?


End file.
